Pupils in Pathway 3 at Charlton Park Academy Follow the Sensory Curriculum

CharltonParkAcademy
The Sensory Curriculum

Pupils in Pathway 3 at Charlton Park Academy follow the Sensory Curriculum.

Our curriculum focuses on developing pupils understanding of the world around them, social interactions and relationships. It will be delivered through a half termly topic in an integrated cross-curricular manner incorporating therapy and health needs. The Curriculum has 5 core areas of development.

1.  Cognition – developing sensory awareness in modes appropriate to the learner to develop heuristic play leading to self-engagement and awareness of their environment. (This incorporates the appropriate elements of Maths and Science curriculum areas).

·  Sensory awareness.

·  Development of attention skills.

·  Environmental awareness.

·  Concept development

·  Exploratory behaviours.

·  Play

·  Joint interactions.

·  Sorting and matching.

2.  Communication – developing intentional communication giving learners a degree of autonomy, control and choice. (This incorporates the appropriate elements of English and ICT curriculum areas).

·  Sensory awareness.

·  Anticipation.

·  Language comprehension.

·  Interactions.

·  Signalling.

·  Vocalisation and speech development.

3.  Relationship and Sexuality Education – At Charlton Park Academy, all students have access to a comprehensive Relationships and Sexuality Education curriculum. The main aim of RSE is to promote student safety and to develop student’s confidence in understanding and dealing with situations that relate to their own health and wellbeing.

Key goals of any Relationships and Sexuality Education program include supporting students to develop:

·  Skills to ensure their personal safety is maintained

·  Knowledge around the physical, social and emotional changes that occur during puberty

·  Ways to develop and foster relationships and friendships

·  Ability to manage their own health and hygiene

·  Develop a healthy appreciation for themselves and others

For students in Pathway Three, teachers and staff engage students through a range of programs daily that together allow for students to be immersed in learning that aims to develop their skills and understanding of important aspects of these key goals. Programs taught at Charlton that positively contribute to students understanding may include:

·  Sherbourne

·  TacPac

·  Independent Living Skills Programmes

Therefore, an integrated approach to teaching RSE has been adopted and through these tactile, kinaesthetic programmes students encouraged to be aware of their bodies, how to move and be with others (Relationships Education) and developing a common language when communicating with others about their bodies. (Sexuality)

4.  Independent Living Skills (ILS) – Students have opportunities to develop their skills through Independent Living Skills lessons however, in addition to this ILS are worked on throughout the curriculum and routines of the school day. Within lessons and throughout the week, students will be supported to gain essential skills in preparation for adulthood, and opportunities are created for students to develop their confidence and become as independent as they are able to for their futures.The learning contains themes such as:

·  Understanding Myself and Others- Emotional wellbeing, building relationships, social rules, social skills, understanding of self and other, self-advocacy.

·  Mini Enterprise and Economic Wellbeing- Enterprise skills, understanding money, buying and selling, teamwork, enjoying the benefits of their enterprise.

·  Looking After Myself and My Environment- Healthy cooking and eating, keeping fit, independence within personal care (washing hands, brushing teeth, dressing, etc.), cleaning (washing up, sweeping, laundry, etc.), laying the table.

·  Understanding My Environments- Community access, road safety, travel training, staying safe within the community, accessing community facilities.

5.  Physical / Motor - for our motor curriculum we either follow programmes written within the school’s MOVE programme or the school’s PE curriculum as appropriate.

In addition to these 5 curriculum areas the extended curriculum through the term’s topic incorporates RE, creative arts, leisure activities, cooking, gardening and games, etc.